


Katara's Will

by Blue_Storm (Spillz)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (except the comics), Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, I can't write happy stories right now soz, old zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-16 22:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7287595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spillz/pseuds/Blue_Storm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Upon Katara's death Korra is left to clean out her room, she finds a box with a Fire Nation Insignia on it full of letters. She never expected the story she received when she asked Lord Zuko about them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Katara's Will

Korra wished she hadn’t agreed to clear out Katara’s bedroom. She knew that it was the right thing of course; she was Katara’s last student and an incarnation of her husband, so it made sense that she should clear out the bedroom. She just really didn’t want to.

Every trinket, every parka, every scroll, they were reminders that she was gone. One hundred was a good age to live to, Toph had died a few years shy of that and Aang had only been in his sixties, but no matter how long Katara had on this earth, it just wasn’t long enough for Korra.

When Korra had packed away everything in the wardrobe she had been ready to go join the others downstairs, when she noticed an outline along the back, a panel. She pushed it down and the false wall popped out to reveal a wooden box. Korra pulled the box out and removed the lid carefully, some voice in her head told her that this was an invasion of Katara’s privacy, that this box should be looked through by her children and not her student, but Korra’s curiosity overtook the voice and she started to rifle through it.

On top were sets of clothes, a few simple blue sets that looked like they had been Katara’s as a teenager, and a red set with a choker, most likely from when Aang and the team had been hiding in the Fire Nation. There was one outfit she couldn't figure out a first, a strange loose robe that seemed to have been put together on the fly, it wasn’t until she found the veil that went with it that she remembered the story of the Painted Lady, and how Katara had saved a village pretending to be her. Korra looked at the clothes and tried to imagine a young Katara in them, fighting armies and bandits in these old fashioned clothes. And found herself smiling at the idea, wishing she could have known Katara back then.

The rest of the box was full of trinkets with stories attached to them, a waterbending scroll Katara had stolen from pirates, pendant that had once held the spirit water that saved Aang’s life, a blue comb that had belonged to the first ever blood bender, and so many items Korra didn’t even know the stories for. The last thing left once Korra had sorted all the remaining items was a small box with the Royal Fire Nation insignia on it, Korra snapped the clasps open and lifted the lid to reveal a pile of letters all neatly tied together with a blue ribbon, and a red silk bag. Just as Korra had been torn between reading the letters and leaving well alone she heard the door open.

“Hey, you want to come down and eat, you’ve been in here for hours,” Asami said “Kya and Bumi can take over in here”

“I’m alright,” Korra said, closing the box of letters and turning to give her girlfriend a quick kiss “I found this box of stuff from back when Katara was fighting the Hundred Years War, it’s really interesting”

“Lord Zuko will be arriving later, you should go through it with him,” Asami said, picking up the flyer for _The Boy in the Iceberg_ “He’d probably be able to tell you what it all is”

“This box looks like it’s from the Fire Nation Palace, Katara never mentioned it, but I bet Lord Zuko knows”

“Shall I get the others? I know Jinora would love to get her hands on this stuff.” Asami asked, Korra wanted to say no and hold on to these relics of her past life for a little while longer, but she couldn’t keep these memories from everyone. She agreed but slipped the box of letters into her pocket.

 

* * *

 

 

“Lord Zuko” Korra called as the elderly man made his way off the Fire Nation ship with a cane in hand “Lord Zuko, I’m so glad you could make it”

“It is an honour to be here,” He said, bowing deeply to Korra “Besides, I am the Executor of Master Katara’s will, I had to come”

“Oh! I found a box in her room full of stuff from the war, is that mentioned in the will at all?” Korra asked, offering Zuko her arm as they made their way to the house

“I believe it is, but I am afraid I cannot tell you what is said until the official reading,” Zuko said

“That’s after lunch isn’t it?’ Korra asked, glancing her watch, a gift from Asami “And lunch is right about now”

“Well then Avatar Korra, let’s eat.”

 

The reading of Katara’s will was relatively simple, she left her home in the south to Tenzin, along with instructions not to let her grandchildren forget that they were Water Tribe too. Her savings were split between Kya and Bumi, and that was pretty much it with her major belongings. What was strange was that it was Korra, and not Kya, Jinora, or even Ikki who was given Katara’s necklace.

“Korra was my last student, she knew how much that necklace meant to me and I believe it will look beautiful on her” Zuko read, handing Korra the blue box that held the choker. Korra glanced nervously at Kya who was smiling at her

“Don’t look at me like that, she wanted you to have it and I think it's perfect for you” Kya assured her. Korra opened the box and passed the necklace to Asami to fasten it.

“You look lovely,” Asami said, planting a soft kiss on Korra’s cheek “Katara was absolutely right.”

“She always was, ” Zuko said with a faint smile, before moving on “Next is the box of souvenirs, Korra, I believe you found this box earlier today”

“Yes, it’s like a whole storybook in there!” Jinora said, bouncing on the edge of her seat “Who get’s it?”

“Everything is labelled separately," Zuko began, clearing his throat before continuing "To my granddaughter, Ikki, I give the comb of Hama, the first blood bender”

“Creepy!” Ikki shied away from the box slightly but grabbed the comb as soon as it was handed to her

“‘To Jinora, the empty phial of spirit water” Zuko paused for a moment before adding “We owe a great deal to that water” He passed it to Jinora who stared at it reverently before putting it around her neck.

The list went on and Korra waited for Zuko to mention the box of letters but he never did. Milo got Sokka’s boomerang. Rohan, who had started to show signs of waterbending, got Katara’s stolen scroll. When finished with the will Zuko handed the piece of parchment to Bumi excused himself, Korra slipped out of the room to follow him.

“Lord Zuko!” Korra called, quickly overtaking the older man “There was something else I found, it wasn’t in the will and Katara never mentioned it to me before” She pulled the box of letters from her pocket and held out. Zuko squinted and took a step towards Korra before recognition flooded his face. 

“I-” Zuko was staring at the box, and scrambling for his glasses “I had almost forgotten this,” He said, reaching out to take the box from Korra. “The letters...”

“Lord Zuko,” Korra began hesitantly, taken aback by the way Zuko held the box as though it were a Dragon’s Egg “Did you write those letters?”

“Decades ago, I never thought that Katara would have kept them,” He said, pulling out the red silk bag underneath them “And this…” Zuko trailed off as he pulled out a golden headpiece, it reminded Korra of Fire Lord Izumi’s crown, but smaller, less sharp.

“What is that?” Korra asked tentatively, she felt as though she was intruding on something very private.

“The Fire Lady’s crown,” He said softly, “I thought I would never see this again.” He suddenly looked up at Korra, realising where he was “I’m sorry Avatar Korra, you must be confused-”

“Well yeah, but it isn’t really my business-” Korra said, part of her wanted to leave Lord Zuko to his memories, but a bigger part of her wanted to find out what was going on.

“Nonsense,” He cut her off “Join me for tea, it is time this part of Master Katara’s life story was told”

 

* * *

 

Korra sipped the terrible tea Lord Zuko had made, waiting for him to get settled and begin the story.

“Now” he began “Like with all of Aang’s team, my relationship with Katara had rather unsavoury beginnings, I was an angry young man chasing the acceptance of a tyrant and a skewed image of honour. Katara was the first of the group to trust me and my betrayal in Ba Sing Se hurt her the most, when I did realise which path was the right one she was sure that I would betray her so to gain her trust I-”

“Took her to find her mother’s killer, she told me that story” Korra interrupted, she knew the stories of the war better than she knew herself “Sorry! Sorry, please continue”

“Katara became my closest friend, she was the reason that I was able to take the throne, she accompanied me to find my own mother in Hira’a, and she used to visit the Fire Nation twice a year as an emissary of the water tribes”

Zuko did not tell Korra how they would spend almost the whole night sitting up and talking whenever she visited, how she had been the only one to see him cry over Mai, or how he had been the only one to hear her doubts about Aang. He did tell her how the visits had become more and more frequent, how he had visited her at both the north and south poles, and how they had both taken a week off to relax on Ember Island.

“I think she realised what had happened first. I remember she didn’t visit for months while fighting in the north, it was in these months that I realised I missed her more than I could ever remember missing a person. When she did come to visit again the confession that brought her to me was already on my own mind”

“Confession? Wait, you and Master Katara-”

“We were in love.” Zuko finished, “Yes Avatar Korra this is a teenage love story, I apologise, I’m sure you were expecting something of more substance from the Ex-Fire Lord”

“Are you kidding! This is amazing! How long were you guys together? Was it serious? And how come nobody told me any of this?” Korra asked, tea spilling over the side of her cup in her excitement.

“We were together for eight years, yes it was serious, I asked her to marry me on several occasions” Zuko answered calmly, smiling at the Avatar’s familiar enthusiasm

“She never said yes?” Korra asked

“It was never the right time for us, she was establishing the Right to Bend in the north, I was building Republic City, and we were both young, we needed more time to make a commitment like that” Zuko explained, Korra nodded

“I get that, I love Asami but I’m pretty sure if I asked her to marry me she’d laugh” she mused, playing with the pendant on Katara’s betrothal necklace “but I still don’t understand how I never knew about this, surely it would be at least mentioned that two of the Avatar’s masters were dating”

“The only love affairs that get remembered are the successes or the tragedies, ours was neither. We both had lives that were becoming busier and more rooted as the years went on, we would go months without seeing each other or writing, purely because we were caught up in work. I couldn’t ask her to leave the south and she wouldn't let me give up the throne-”

“You offered!” Korra said in disbelief, her mouth hanging open

“Only once, but yes” Zuko admitted, he did not mention the many other times he had foolishly offered to rule his nation from the poles and the many times Katara had told him how ridiculous he was.

“You really loved her,” Korra said, Zuko nodded

“I really did. I gave her this crown when it ended and told her that no future Fire Lady could ever replace her”

_“You’re such a drama queen Zuko”_ Katara had said through tears

“Was it true?” Korra asked softly “Fire Lady Rina, did you love her?”

“I did but…” Zuko trailed off, looking at the ground “Not like Katara.” he had never admitted that, not even to himself really.

“I'm sorry,” Korra said “That it didn’t work out”

“Thank you, Avatar,” Zuko said, brushing away the tears that had spilt over onto his cheeks without him realising “I suppose there is always the next life”


End file.
